Thursday, January 28, 2016

Trump Laid Out His Playbook For His Campaign 30 Years Ago

His presidential campaign is ‘The Art of the Deal’ in action.

Donald Trump’s six-month stay atop the Republican presidential field has confounded political pros. Rather than follow the playbook that has long guided campaigns through the arduous primary calendar, the bombastic billionaire is charting his own path, filled with insults and vainglorious preening that theoretically shouldn’t attract voters.

But Mr. Trump laid out how he would run his campaign 30 years ago in his best seller “The Art of the Deal.” Perhaps if more strategists had read the book, this race would be tighter. So let’s parse what Mr. Trump wrote.

“I play to people’s fantasies” and a “little hyperbole never hurts.” Mr. Trump has proposed a 2,000-mile-long wall at the Mexican border, a “deportation force” to expel an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants, and a ban on all noncitizen Muslims entering the country. Those pledges represent the extreme wish-list items of Mr. Trump’s most ardent fans. They are also completely unrealistic.

Why do Trump supporters remind me of Obama supporters?

But Trump supporters say they like him for two reasons: He isn’t afraid to tell it like it is, and he isn’t a prisoner to political correctness. He is an outlet for the hyperbolic fantasies of voters who believe that the economy and politicians are leaving them behind.